KID IS NOT ALL RIGHT – Letter To Editor

This is a letter to the editor of the Toronto Globe & Mail July 15, 2010 from Janice McAlpine. I want to be sure it gets as much exposure as possible:

“When our kids are 15 years old, we pray they’ll see 20. Omar Khadr almost didn’t make it. But in his case, it wasn’t fast cars, alcohol poisoning or teenage angst that put his life at risk. It was his father taking him to Afghanistan.

On July 27, 2002, when the U.S. Army attacked the compound where Mr. Khadr was staying, he was shot and almost blinded, and he either did or did not kill a U.S. soldier with a hand grenade.

We don’t know how willingly Mr. Khadr fought against Canadian allies, but we do know how impressionable and dependent 15 year olds are. In Canadian law, a child soldier is not a murderer.

Omar Khadr should be repatriated and given help. If it turns out that this young man, who has now spent eight years in a cage, is embittered and a threat to society, we can put our new Canadian security czar to work. But if we don’t give Mr. Khadr a chance to begin his life again, we have to admit that Canadian justice is something we offer selectively.”

Janice McAlpine